The two characteristics that I will highlight are my humor and being from the East coast. Because I present as lighthearted and often use humor and bring levity to situations people tend to not take me seriously. At times this hurts my feelings because, yes, I often use humor and take full responsibility for that, but it doesn’t mean that I do not have the capacity for deep meaningful conversations or intellectual debates and that I am not intelligent. The same is true of being from the East coast. Often people assume I am from New Jersey, which I am not. I would appreciate if people would ask rather than assume. Along with that comes judgement like if I am from Jersey then I am superficial, focused on how I look and not very intelligent. I need to be cautious about how I use humor and my slight accent especially in the professional arena as I want to be taken seriously.
I recently had a client who was elderly and abusing alcohol. I made assumptions about how she might be uncomfortable participating in the addictions group setting. I assumed that she would be offended by the language that was being used during group or she would not feel comfortable with my client’s that were abusing drugs. I found myself being protective of her and treating her as if she was frail. I believe this came from how I was taught to respect my elders. As it turned out she became very respected in the group, was non-judgmental and each client felt very safe with her. She was like a strong oak tree, was very accepting of everyone and she certainly didn’t need protecting. Looking back on it, I wish I would have used broaching with her and asked as opposed to assuming.
I admit I have made assumptions about people like for example how men and women differ in how they manage emotions. According to Young, (2020), there is no evidence proving a difference between men and women and processing emotions. I have made a general blanket statement in my group before about how men and women differ in how they process emotions. I plan not to make a statement about that again.
I recently worked with a client who was a gay, male, Latino with HIV. He had experienced severe oppression, abuse, discrimination, and he was a victim of a hate crime in the past. I was able practice broaching with him. He responded positively and when I brought up the differences between us, he wanted to talk about that, and we both were respectful of one another. I could tell that he appreciated my ability to practice cultural humility with him.
Young, (2020), talks about the importance of being a student and leaving aside the expert role when it comes to culture and working with different groups. Young, (2020), emphasizes the importance of asking client’s when we are uncertain and that this is a good example of culture humility. Young, (2020), reports that cultural humility is a respectful action, very unassuming, taking other perspectives into consideration. According to Fisher-Borne, (2014), cultural humility as a concept may be more appropriate then cultural competence. This resonates with me, and I have used this approach numerous times in the past and I believe my former clients appreciated this humble approach.
Yet, I still have work to do. I do not believe a subject like this is something that I will ever master, and I believe being a reflective counselor will be the armor to protect against personal bias, judgement, and assumptions. I am imperfect and know I will make mistakes but being a reflective counselor will assist me with this. According to Young, (2020), being a reflective counselor and engaging in activities such as supervision and journaling helps with the ability to practice broaching. I also believe practicing self-care, being grounded and mindful will help. I also plan to work with this concept and practice asking vs. assuming.
According to Jones, et. al., (2019), broaching with clients leads to numerous positive outcomes and it should be initiated by the counselor within the first 1-2 sessions. According to Jones, et. al., (2019), broaching also should happen between supervisors and supervisees which leads to enhanced supervision and client outcomes. Jones, et. al., (2019), emphasizes that engaging in broaching during supervision is good role modeling for counselors who can use similar skills with their clients. According to Jones, et. al. (2019), ethnic and minority clients have the highest attrition rates following the initial session. The sooner the broaching happens the better and it could reduce the attrition rates and strengthen the therapeutic alliance. (Jones, et. al, 2019).